Taiwan's HTC rejects fresh Apple patent claim

July 12, 2011

People walk past the logo of high-tech firm HTC in Hsintien, Taipei county. Taiwan's leading smartphone maker has dismissed fresh patent infringement claims by US giant Apple as the legal battle between the rivals escalated.

Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC on Tuesday dismissed fresh patent infringement claims by US giant Apple as the legal battle between the rivals escalated.

Apple Monday filed a complaint against HTC with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) -- which is already reviewing three other disputes between the two -- over five cases linked to technology used in the iPad and iPhone.

It has also lodged a suit in a US District Court in Delaware.

"HTC is disappointed at Apple's constant attempts at litigations instead of competing fairly in the market," said HTC general counsel Grace Lei in a statement.

"HTC strongly denies all infringement claims raised by Apple in the past and present and reiterates our determination and commitment to protect our intellectual property rights," she said.

"Sentiment was hit by Apple's fresh legal action as well as heavy losses in the international and regional markets," said Alex Huang, an analyst at Mega International Investment Services.

HTC touts its own brand of smartphones and also makes handsets for a number of leading US companies, including the Nexus One unveiled by Apple rival Google.

Apple in March 2010 called on the ITC to investigate the Taiwan company over iPhone patents. That was followed months later by HTC filing for a probe into possible software patent abuse by the California-based firm.

Patent lawsuits are a regular occurrence among technology giants and Apple is currently being sued by Nokia for patent infringement. Apple has fired back a countersuit against the Finnish mobile phone giant.

And last week Apple hit back at an infringement claim by Samsung by calling for the South Korean company to be investigated.

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people buy the phones, therefore they will NEVER reduce the price, we will only continue to see the price go up, even if manufacturing costs go down.

The ONLY goal of a business is to make money. Period. Any tactic that will make them more money is the path that they will take. Even if that tactic is illegal, immoral, Bad for the economy, bad for the nation, ETC.

Companies left unchecked would pay their "employees" nothing, they would work 12-18 hour days, products would be Disposable, and they would not only charge you to buy the product but also there would be charges for ongoing usage.

The less protection from businesses that individuals have (unions, social safety net programs, consumer protection laws etc) the more power businesses will have over people.

Unfortunately the businesses have convinced quite a few people that Laissez-faire capitalism is the only way to solve any problem we might come across. cont-

Companies buying up patents, to stifle growth, to put legit competitors out of business, and to serve as a source of income is exactly what the Republican party has wanted for awhile.

It is a path to create more wealth for those who have the funds to buy these patents, and a way to reduce competition.

Much of the human genome has been patented already. Who knows some day if businesses get their way (which with republicans they will!) we will have to pay licencing fees every time we metabolize sugars, or fight off certain infections.

it has NOTHING to do with human beings, and everything to do with businesses. While businesses are RUN by people, they are typically run by a group of people, and are beholden to shareholders who are assumed to only be worried about returns on investment.

Say the VP-HR says that giving 2 more sick days to their employees would be a great thing to give to them for all of their hard work. The CFO would probally respond with how much money that it would cost them, and the group would decide to follow the money.

Only if the additional sales will cover the cost of the reduction in price, but if you are of the opinion that the market is near saturation, or that people will buy the product regardless of price, then lowering the price is a non-option.

91% of americans have a cellphone. Not many more people to attract over to buy a phone, they're already locked into the system. People are used to buying a new phone every few years, for around 200$.

The numbers would work out to show that a reduction in price would only result in a reduction in profit.

And yes, i did not take into account market share. Apple has NEVER been one to reduce prices to increase market share. Look at their computer line, if they reduced the price to be more in line with mainstream computers (which they could because their costs are the same to produce the computer it's self) they MIGHT pick up a few more customers. They have NOT significantly reduced their prices, and still even now, a Mac will cost you hundreds of dollars more than the equivilent computer with windows installed.

Why is that? Do you think it's poor business planning? Do you think that Apple has a bad CFO? Stupid people incharge of their pricing models? Or could it be that they've already done the numbers and have come to the same conclusions that i have?

Patent trolls are patent trolls. How do you snuff out a troll? You put a potato sack over its head and beat the living $%^& out of it. That is my opinion of copyright, which is a lie wrapped around a lie. You have no copy rights. They don't exist. There is no such thing as intellectual property.

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